The Rain Makes the Pain Grow Stronger
by Amles80
Summary: Pre-series. Angela thinks that Elle, as she's growing up to be a young woman, needs a mother figure. Elle has something else in mind...


**Title:** The rain makes the pain grow stronger**  
Fandom:** Heroes**  
Rating:** T**  
Characters/pairing:** Elle Bishop/Angela Petrelli (one-sided)**  
Summary:** Angela thinks that Elle, as she's growing up and isn't a child anymore, needs a mother figure more than ever. Elle has something else in mind.**  
Word**** count:** 1 373**  
Written for:** "Raindrops" picture, oneshot challenge #19 heroes_contest, live journal

***

It started raining again. When Angela looked outside the window, she could see how the raindrops fell in the big pool of water that had assembled there after the rain the night before. She sighed. Rain made her restless and bored.

Perhaps she could go and see Bob and Elle? But she wasn't entirely sure. Elle had begun to look at her in a funny way. Somehow it reminded her of the way that Nathan and Peter looked at her, and perhaps it wasn't so strange. Elle was getting older. The age when, Angela supposed, most girls would need a mother.

Too bad that I'm not the motherly kind, Angela thought. My own boys - that's different. That's biology, that's the blood that talks. And, there was something more in Elle's eyes. Something she wasn't sure how to interpret.

Anyway, Angela went to see the girl. Bob was out, and Elle seemed glad to see her. Angela looked at Elle and was suddenly surprised at the sight of her.

"When was the last time I saw you?" she asked.

Elle shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. A while ago, I guess. Why?"

"Oh, nothing..."

It is an odd thing to watch a girl grow up, Angela thought. It's like the rain. Everything is happening slowly at first. The body is getting taller, she starts paying attention to the way she dresses and brushes her hair, the breasts are growing, and it's like raindrops falling into a pool of water; you can count the drops, and see the circles spreading on the water. But suddenly, the raindrops are falling down so fast and it's impossible to separate one from another; if you look at one drop as it hits the water, a hundred of others have already fallen down beside it and you haven't had time to notice.

That's what it's like when a girl is becoming a woman, too. Just like that.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Just fine", Elle said, and added in a lower tone of voice as she looked out of the window; "except that I..."

"Yes, what? Is something bothering you that you can't talk to your dad about? You can talk to me, then."

I shouldn't say that, Angela thought; not if I'm not convinced that I can do anything for her.

"My hands hurt", Elle said. "I mean, sometimes... I feel this ache..."

Angela tried not to show how worried she was by hearing that. Elle's powers were centred in her hands, and if she felt pain, then clearly something was wrong with her. She tried to think, but she didn't know of anyone with a similar ability that had reported hurting hands.

"You should tell Bob", she said, but Elle interrupted,

"No, it's not... I mean, it has nothing to do with my ability. It's not that kind of pain - look, I'm fine, and I'll still be useful to the Company..."

Elle made small blue electric flames dance on the palm of her hands, made them grow in intensity for a moment, then let them fade.

"Then I don't understand", Angela said.

"Sometimes when I look out of the window," Elle said, "and when I think about the world outside, then I feel this peculiar pain in the palm of my hands. Especially when it rains, like today. I don't know why, but the rain makes the pain grow stronger. And my cheeks are burning as if I had a fever, except that I don't, and..."

Elle stretched her arms out, toward Angela, but didn't walk any closer. Her eyes seemed bigger than usual, questioning, and she searched for words.

"I guess I feel as if I'd like to... I don't know, I press my hands toward the window glass, and I see my own reflection in the glass, and then I feel lonely. It makes me think that I'd like to... touch someone else's hands, I suppose."

Elle took one step closer to Angela and grabbed her left hand and pressed her own hand against hers, made their fingers become intertwined.

"Like this, maybe..." she said slowly.

Angela gently freed her hand, and said:

"I understand, Elle. It's perfectly natural, you know. You are a young woman now, and like any young woman, you have needs. That ache in your hand is not dangerous; it's simply your body's way of telling your mind what it needs."

"Oh, I know that, Angela. I have been living within the walls of this building for almost all my life, but that doesn't mean that I'm born yesterday. I'm not asking you what it means; I'm asking you what you suggest that I'll do about it."

Angela sighed inwardly. She felt unprepared for this conversation.

The girl looked at her as if she held the secret key to all answers, but she wasn't sure about what to say to her, the eighteen-year-old who was not a child anymore, and needed a mother figure.

Angela did not want to take on that role, although she was the mother of two sons. But she knew she _should_ take it on, because Bob's daughter had always looked up to her and admired her; where did this sudden urge to turn around and walk away come from?

The raindrops were beating even harder on the window as if they were playing some obscure and inflammatory, heady music.

"Oh, come here!", she said, and Elle immediately fell into her open arms.

"Don't worry, it will be all right", Angela said, as she tried to comfortingly caress the young woman's blonde hair. "Don't be sad, Elle. One day, you'll see…"

Angela stopped to think. One day, what? 'One day you'll have sex, you'll have a family like normal people…' But Elle wasn't like normal people. She lived within the Company's walls, she was going to become an agent, and she was practically Company property…

"I know that I can never be like you", Elle said, "and maybe that's why I've always liked you so much. You're beautiful and elegant and strong…"

"Very well, dear. You don't have to idolize me."

Angela tried to escape the embrace, but Elle clutched at her.

"No, don't go away. Please, just hold me. Hold me."

Elle's grip tightened and then Angela felt her lips against her neck and then on her cheek and the second before Elle's lips reached hers, she turned her head away.

"Child, what on earth are you doing?"

Elle's breath was hot against her face as she whispered:

"Angela, kiss me!"

Is the girl just confused, Angela thought, or have I misread the signs? That peculiar look in her eyes lately, does that means that she is… attracted to me?

"No", she said, "that wouldn't be right…"

"But I want you to kiss me. I really need you to kiss me!"

I suppose that she really thinks that she does, Angela thought, as she looked into Elle's eyes, sad as rainy skies.

Angela decided what to do; she kissed the girl she held in her arms. Elle's hungry mouth met hers eagerly; Elle pressed her body against hers. Angela held her close, ran her fingers through her hair, and kissed her even deeper.

Then she stepped back.

Elle raised her arms to try to get hold of her again, but then she let her hands fall down.

Angela smiled gently and reached out her hand to caress the girl's blushing face.

"Now you know what that feels like."

"Yes", Elle said, "but I want more…"

Angela slowly shook her head.

"No", she said with her most serious tone of voice. "You see, life is unfair like that. We don't always get everything that we want. That's just the way it is."

Elle nodded.

As Angela left, she wondered if it would have been better if she had resisted Elle's wish, but the whole episode had taken her by surprise, and she had to admit that she had enjoyed the kiss.

Suddenly, the world around her became brighter. As she looked up, she saw a crack in the grey clouds where the blue sky was visible. The sun started to come out again, for the first time in days.

And it had stopped raining.


End file.
